Field report from blogger Wren. With all the rain, the brush country is holding some giants this year. All these bucks are amazing…I’m posting the best one last, my dream buck!
Mike, we did our helicopter flyover of The Martinena this past Saturday. We saw 10-12 bona fide South Texas free-ranging, natural-browse trophies. Looks like it is going to be a very good year for racks in the parts of South Texas that have been blessed with consistent rains since late winter thru the spring and summer months.
Here are six bucks we managed to get photos of. It was a warm morning, we began flying at 8:00 am and finished up flying the grid on 6,000 acres just after 11:30 am. We did not want to push the deer too hard due to the heat and them still being in velvet, so we missed out on getting photos of the two best bucks we saw.
It appears the herd on The Martinena has done well since the end of last season. We are in Webb County. Fawn recruitment looks to be 80% plus…the bucks all appear to be sporting their best potential for racks… the doe:buck ratio calculated out to 1.37:1 based on actual deer counted…we are at about 25 acres per adult deer which is optimum for the property.–Wren
Maverick, thanks for the compliment. My wife would tell you that at 63 years old I am still a work in progress. More than once while sitting in a blind on The Martinena or wherever I may be fortunate enough to be out hunting I have said a prayer of thanksgiving while watching a sunrise or sunset, or better yet a full moon rise above one horizon just after the sun has set on the other. I believe all of us who have enjoyed The Buck Stops Here and Big Deer TV and Mike’s blog feel the same way – the big bucks are the bonus or icing on the cake, the real thrill and satisfaction comes from the time spent with family and friends working to build a property to its full potential, sitting around a great campfire sharing new stories and embellishing old ones or just sitting together in silence looking into the glowing coals or the nighttime sky, a cold beer or glass of wine, maybe two fingers of bourbon and three cubes of ice, and appreciating the blessings we have been granted. That’s the real trophy.
Wren, do you ever slap yourself just to make sure it’s not a dream? Haha You certainly are blessed to have hunting privileges on a 6,000 acre big buck paradise. It seems your group runs a top notch QDMA program and I love the fact that you make such generous donations to the food bank. Hunters make a difference! Mike I’d love to see you film a hunt on this ranch with what sounds like a great guy.
Danny, the ranch is privately owned and is hunted for trophy bucks by five of us. It is not a commercial hunting operation. We hold a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Level 3 Managed Lands Deer Permit which allows us to harvest whitetail deer from basically the first of October thru February 28. The state issues buck and doe permits based on the helicopter flyover count, our blind / hunter observation data and the management goals set forth in our Wildlife Management Plan. Family and friends help us with harvesting the management bucks and does to keep the herd in balance with the carrying capacity and trophy buck growth potential of the native South Texas brush present on the ranch. In 2010 and 2011 we were the largest contributors of harvested deer to the San Antonio Food Bank’s wild game meat donation program. It is truly a privilige to be able to maximize the wildlife resources on the ranch and provide ground venison to the many recipients of the Food Bank’s program. This year the ranch will be supporting a first calf heifer operation to take advantage of the great range conditions. Because of the extreme drought conditions over the last several years it will be the first time there are cattle on the ranch in four years.
Curt, if we could only be so lucky as to be able to have Mike make a hunt with us. Don’t know if I could stand the pressure of knowing he was trying to make a show out of it, though.
Wren,
Be fun to find out wouldn’t it?
Yes, it would be fun! But I don’t want to get in trouble with Sarge and Mike’s group he makes his South Texas hunts with and make it look like we are trying to steal away their date for the dance!! We are here as a back-up option in the event of unforeseen issues. Wish I knew how to slap a big smiley face emoticon at the end of this.
:)
Is this a ranch where people can book hunts?
Two thoughts:
1. When are you heading to the Martinena?
2. If Wren doesn’t come through, will he ever be heard from on this blog again?